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The quick change of sl


Jerry00Devou
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After just two years of absence,i'm back in sl,and saw that there is a huge change in many sims,sadly it's in the negative way because there is less people than before and less action and a decreasing of fun,it's just what i think after 5 days of playing,it's different,i don't know what you think but it's just what i see.

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I think of two years in SL as being the equivalent of 20 years in SL. If' you're trying to go to the same places you went to two years ago I'm not surprised you're seeing fewer people. New places come along doing new things and some older places don't keep up, so they start losing their share of people's attention. You're also having the problem of comparing your memories to what you're seeing in real-time - memories just about always look better.

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Jerry00Devou wrote:

After just two years of absence,i'm back in sl,and saw that there is a huge change in many sims,sadly it's in the negative way because there is less people than before and less action and a decreasing of fun,it's just what i think after 5 days of playing,it's different,i don't know what you think but it's just what i see.

Welcome back to SL.

There have been changes, just like there are often changes in real life.  Shops/bars/clubs close, others open, people move on, and new people arrive. Evolution.

Personally speaking, I have been sad at the loss of two very old favourite sims this year, plus I do not get along with the official Second Life Viewer, and mesh, to me, is like the emperor's new suit - sometimes barely there, and not as great as the mesh sheep would want the others to believe.

BUT there are many positives. There only appear to be less people than before because Linden Lab changed the policy on bots, and so there are still probably the same real life people behind avatars logging in these days, instead of the soulless beings that took up a lot of the dance spots, camping places, and generally cluttered up the sims/servers saying nothing to anyone.

As for fun, take yourself to the Destination Guide and pick up some from there.  This has replaced the 'Popular Places' tab (which had been rigged by traffic bots) - real life recommendations have led to a very full list of places to explore, shop, roleplay, dance, listen to live music, etc., and depending what you prefer to do, this could be the start of a very fulfilling and fun chapter of your Second Life, second time around.

I advise you to log in and get stuck in. Use the search feature to find like-minded people/roleplay areas/etc. Second Life isn't dying just yet .

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Welcome back to SL! A few of us are still here but as you have perceived a lot has changed...

I know that goes against the previous replies above but from my chair / couch / dance pole (in SL anyway), I completely understand your questions about traffic, old places, etc. Change occurs in SL all the time. People come and go, inovative places rise and fall, new viewer(s) and features create discord, etc. but I think most would agree a deeper shift than normal has occurred during the last year. The numbers tell a third of the story; visitation is down significantly, private regions have declined more than 10% with two months left to go, and marketplace sales have replaced in-world business transactions. Another third of the story is Linden Lab's abandonment of Second Life in pursuit of other start-up projects. For example, this year they pulled all support from the Second Life Conference (canceled) and Second Life Birthday (sponsored instead by generous residents), discontinued providing grid metrix (now performed by third parties), and discussed only their new app projects in the news media. Finally there is the last third which you noticed right away; the loss of great long-time places and uber-experienced residents. Remaining in SL is a personal decision for every resident and RL factors play an important part, but people do wonder why places that have been around for years and are widely popular suddenly closed now. This is not the first time SL has seen massive drops in visitors, an exodus of businesses, and hatred / confusion of viewers, etc. (those who survived the first 6 months of Viewer 2 know what I am talking about), but there seems to be a deeper and more fundamental loss going on this year than previous times.

Talking about all of this, I might sound like a doom and gloom girl spouting off that Second Life is about to end but that is not the case. In fact, I think Linden Lab has to keep the grid power on to pay for all their new tablet products. Basically I am betting they will squeeze SL for all its worth (and then some because I don't think they know blood does not come from rocks) before they shut it down. How long that will take is anyone's guess but I have a feeling I will be spouting off absurd statements here for at least another two years...

Hmm, maybe that does make me a gloom and doom girl, but in a happy kind of way, right?!

Anyway, back to the question at hand. Yes, SL has changed but being physically different (virtually speaking) with an altered in-world economy, set of core values and company goals is not really good or bad, its just.... different. Coming back after such a long absence will make you feel like a noob in some ways but your previous experiences will make re-learning faster and less awkward. Enjoy SL for what it is today and remember the golden rule; always have fun first!

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There have been some big improvements. Viewer 3 fixed most of the problems with Viewer 2, and mesh now rezes well and does not impact prim counts as much as before. It also moves better when worn as clothing. Also a lot of technical problems have been fixed. Encroaching prim return powers, avatar hiding, and sound/voice privacy have helped on residential areas on the mainland and some private estates. Materials with normal and specular mapping will come fairly soon. After a sharp peak in 2009 concurency fell in 2010 and then more or less leveled off. I suspect the drop was mostly bots going away. Second Life will be here for some time. No one knows how long. Enjoy it now for what it is. 

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Nuhai Ling wrote:

Welcome back to SL! A few of us are still here but as you have perceived a lot has changed...

I know that goes against the previous replies above but from my chair / couch / dance pole (in SL anyway), I completely understand your questions about traffic, old places, etc. Change occurs in SL all the time. People come and go, inovative places rise and fall, new viewer(s) and features create discord, etc. but I think most would agree a deeper shift than normal has occurred during the last year. The numbers tell a third of the story; visitation is down significantly, private regions have declined more than 10% with two months left to go, and marketplace sales have replaced in-world business transactions. Another third of the story is Linden Lab's abandonment of Second Life in pursuit of other start-up projects. For example, this year they pulled all support from the Second Life Conference (canceled) and Second Life Birthday (sponsored instead by generous residents), discontinued providing grid metrix (now performed by third parties), and discussed only their new app projects in the news media. Finally there is the last third which you noticed right away; the loss of great long-time places and uber-experienced residents. Remaining in SL is a personal decision for every resident and RL factors play an important part, but people do wonder why places that have been around for years and are widely popular suddenly closed now. This is not the first time SL has seen massive drops in visitors, an exodus of businesses, and hatred / confusion of viewers, etc. (those who survived the first 6 months of Viewer 2 know what I am talking about), but there seems to be a deeper and more fundamental loss going on this year than previous times.

Talking about all of this, I might sound like a doom and gloom girl spouting off that Second Life is about to end but that is not the case. In fact, I think Linden Lab has to keep the grid power on to pay for all their new tablet products. Basically I am betting they will squeeze SL for all its worth (and then some because I don't think they know blood does not come from rocks) before they shut it down. How long that will take is anyone's guess but I have a feeling I will be spouting off absurd statements here for at least another two years...

Hmm, maybe that does make me a gloom and doom girl, but in a happy kind of way, right?!

Anyway, back to the question at hand. Yes, SL has changed but being physically different (virtually speaking) with an altered in-world economy, set of core values and company goals is not really good or bad, its just.... different. Coming back after such a long absence will make you feel like a noob in some ways but your previous experiences will make re-learning faster and less awkward. Enjoy SL for what it is today and remember the golden rule; always have fun first!

So this is another side,i have thought about this in my first hypothesis,it's a bit sad but i'm not hopeless.Thanks for the info.

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